Issa and his ilk ruining USPS

Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is re- sponsible for the current state of disarray in the United States Postal Service (USPS). His committee introduced the legislation requiring the prepayment of health benefits for employees of the future ... some who haven’t even been born yet. This is the thing most responsible for the USPS woes.

That legislation requires: 1) the pre-payment of $5.5 billion each year; 2) payments are required to provide for 75 years of coverage; and 3) USPS is the only agency of the federal government upon which this criteria has been imposed.

Issa’s partner in this fiasco to facilitate the privatization of the USPS is Postmaster General Donahoe. His ineptness in running the postal service is rivaled only by the tenures of Anthony Frank and “Carvin” Marvin Runyon.

The “worsening financial condition of the postal service” noted by The Vindicator has been contrived by Issa/Donahoe.

The post office worked for 200 years without congressional interference in making Ben Franklin’s dream come true. They stuck their noses into USPS in 1970 and it’s been downhill ever since.

It must be noted that America’s postal system is the best in the world, bar none.

It must also be noted that Congress tried to suppress federal and postal workers under the Hatch Act while imposing no such limits on its salaried employees who were free to “give” to congressional politicians.

As a former employee of the USPS, I can say with certainty that the financial crisis of pre-payment and paying military pensions for three years were contrived to jeopardize the future of USPS. I can also say without impunity that the USPS needs more changes to become better prepared to function in this electronic world.

Remember: USPS operates without the use of tax dollars. All its expenses are paid through the sales of stamps and services to America’s public.

The “selling of its soul” to Internet businesses like Pitney-Bowes and usps.com is rather comical. “You’ll never have to go to the post office again” is their proud claim in both print and visual media. “It’s easy. Go to your UPS store” enjoys the same attention. Don’t make a trip to the post office, but it’s all right to go to the UPS store?

How can the Postal Service make a profit if they are encumbered by people like Issa and Donahoe and companies like Pitney-Bowes and UPS?

John Zordich, Youngstown

The writer is a past president of APWU Local 443.

A secret school levy?

Jackson Milton schools have two levies on the May 7 ballot. The fact that no signs saying vote for the tax levy are up along roadsides is like the secret election about 10 years ago.

There are only two reasons not to encourage voters to support a local school levy. One is levy committee is not able to have a few volunteers to put up signs already printed from the November ballot that failed. The other reason is the hope the seniors and less informed about school levy may not vote because they did not know of the levy ballot May 7.

If this is not true there is still time to put up a few political signs about the two tax levies. Vote in Milton and Jackson townships May 7.